This video exposes how her tragic death, like those of Elvis and Michael Jackson, could have been avoided.

Prescription drugs found in Whitney Houston’s hotel room, report says

Via Fox News>>> LOS ANGELES – Bottles of prescription drugs were found in the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel room where Whitney Houston’s lifeless body was discovered Saturday afternoon just hours before a huge Grammy party she was to attend, a report says.

Police discovered “various pill bottles” in Houston’s room, TMZ reported, adding that family members said Houston had been taking the prescription drug Xanax, which is often used to treat anxiety.

When combined with alcohol, Xanax can cause drowsiness. Houston was reportedly found in her bathtub — TMZ says her head was underwater — and could not be revived by paramedics after being removed from the tub.Read full article:

Statistics prove prescription drugs are 16,400% more deadly than terrorists

From NaturalNews.com>>> (By Jessica Fraser) America was rudely awakened to a new kind of danger on September 11, 2001: Terrorism. The attacks that day left 2,996 people dead, including the passengers on the four commercial airliners that were used as weapons. Many feel it was the most tragic day in U.S. history.

Four commercial jets crashed that day. But what if six jumbo jets crashed every day in the United States, claiming the lives of 783,936 people every year? That would certainly qualify as a massive tragedy, wouldn’t it?

Well, forget “what if.” The tragedy is happening right now. Over 750,000 people actually do die in the United States every year, although not from plane crashes. They die from something far more common and rarely perceived by the public as dangerous: modern medicine.

According to the groundbreaking 2003 medical report Death by Medicine, by Drs. Gary Null, Carolyn Dean, Martin Feldman, Debora Rasio and Dorothy Smith, 783,936 people in the United States die every year from conventional medicine mistakes. That’s the equivalent of six jumbo jet crashes a day for an entire year. But where is the media attention for this tragedy? Where is the government support for stopping these medical mistakes before they happen?

After 9/11, the White House gave rise to the Department of Homeland Security, designed to prevent terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Since its inception, billions of dollars have been poured into it. The 2006 budget allots $34.2 billion to the DHS, a number that has come down slightly from the $37.7 billion budget of 2003.

According to the study led by Null, which involved a painstaking review of thousands of medical records, the United States spends $282 billion annually on deaths due to medical mistakes, or iatrogenic deaths. And that’s a conservative estimate; only a fraction of medical errors are reported, according to the study. Actual medical mistakes are likely to be 20 times higher than the reported number because doctors fear retaliation for those mistakes. The American public heads to the doctor’s office or the hospital time and again, oblivious of the alarming danger they’re heading into. The public knows that medical errors occur, but they assume that errors are unusual, isolated events. Unfortunately, by accepting conventional medicine, patients voluntarily continue to walk into the leading cause of death in America.

According to a 1995 U.S. iatrogenic report, “Over a million patients are injured in U.S. hospitals each year, and approximately 280,000 die annually as a result of these injuries. Therefore, the iatrogenic death rate dwarfs the annual automobile accident mortality rate of 45,000 and accounts for more deaths than all other accidents combined.” This report was issued 10 years ago, when America had 34 million fewer citizens and drug company scandals like the Vioxx recall were yet to occur. Today, health care comprises 15.5 percent of the United States’ gross national product, with spending reaching $1.4 trillion in 2004.

Since Americans spend so much money on health care, they should be getting a high quality of care, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Of the 783,936 annual deaths due to conventional medical mistakes, about 106,000 are from prescription drugs, according to Death by Medicine. That also is a conservative number. Some experts estimate it should be more like 200,000 because of underreported cases of adverse drug reactions.

Americans today are used to fixing problems the quick way – even when it comes to their health. Thus, they rely heavily on prescription drugs to fix their diseases. For every conceivable ailment – real or not – chances are there’s a pricey prescription drug to “treat” it. Chances are even better that their drug of choice comes chock full of side effects.

The problem is, prescription drugs don’t treat diseases; they merely cover the symptoms. U.S. physicians provide allopathic health care – that is, they care for disease, not health. So, the over-prescription of drugs and medications is designed to treat disease instead of preventing it. And because there are so many drugs available, unforeseen adverse drug reactions are all too common, which leads to the highly conservative annual prescription drug death rate of 106,000. Keep in mind that these numbers came before the Vioxx scandal, and Cox-2 inhibitor drugs could ultimately end up killing tens of thousands more.

American medical patients are getting the short end of a rather raw deal when it comes to prescription drugs. Medicine is a high-dollar, highly competitive business. But it shouldn’t be. Null’s report cites the five most important aspects of health that modern medicine ignores in favor of the almighty dollar: Stress, lack of exercise, high calorie intake, highly processed foods and environmental toxin exposure. All these things are putting Americans in such poor health that they run to the doctor for treatment. But instead of doctors treating the causes of their poor health, such as putting them on a strict diet and exercise regimen, they stuff them full of prescription drugs to cover their symptoms. Using this inherently faulty system of medical treatment, it’s no wonder so many Americans die from prescription drugs. They’re not getting better; they’re just popping drugs to make their symptoms temporarily go away.

But not all doctors subscribe to this method of “treatment.” In fact, many doctors are just as angry as the public should be, charging that scientific medicine is “for sale” to the highest bidder – which, more often than not, end up being pharmaceutical companies. The pharmaceutical industry is a multi-trillion dollar business. Companies spend billions on advertising and promotions for prescription drugs. Who can remember the last time they watched television and weren’t bombarded with ads for pills treating everything from erectile dysfunction to sleeplessness? And who has ever been to a doctor’s office or hospital and not seen every pen, notepad and post-it bearing the logo of some prescription drug?

Medical experts claim that patients’ requests for certain drugs have no effect on the number of prescriptions written for that drug. Pharmaceutical companies claim their drug ads are “educational” to the public. The public believes the FDA reviews all the ads and only allows the safest and most effective drug ads to reach the public. It’s a clever system: Pharmaceutical companies influence the public to ask for prescription drugs, the public asks their physicians to prescribe them certain drugs, and doctors acquiesce to their patients’ requests. Everyone’s happy, right? Not quite, since the prescription drug death toll continues to rise.

The public seems to genuinely believe that drugs advertised on TV are safe, in spite of the plethora of side effects listed by the commercial’s narrator, ranging from diarrhea to death. Patients feel justified in asking their physicians to prescribe them a particular drug they’ve seen on TV, since it surely must be safe or it wouldn’t have been advertised. Remember all those TV ads heralding the wonders of Vioxx? One might wonder how many lives could have been spared if patients didn’t see the ad on TV and request a prescription from their doctors.

But advertising isn’t the only tool the pharmaceutical industry uses to influence medicine. Null’s study cites an ABC report that said pharmaceutical companies spend over $2 billion sending doctors to more than 314,000 events every year. While doctors are riding the dollar of pharmaceutical companies, enjoying all the many perks of these “events,” how likely are they to question the validity of drug companies or their products?

Admittedly, not all doctors reside in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies. Some are downright angry at the situation, and angry on behalf of an unaware public. Major conflicts of interest exist between the American public, the medical community and the pharmaceutical industry. And although the public suffers the most from this conflict, it is the least informed. The public gets the short end of the stick and they don’t even know it. That is why the pharmaceutical industry remains a multi-trillion dollar business.

Prescription drugs are only a part of the U.S. healthcare system’s miserable failings. In fact, outpatient deaths, bedsore deaths and malnutrition deaths each account for higher death rates than adverse drug reactions. The problems run deep and cannot be remedied without drastic, widespread change in the system’s money and ethics.

The first issue – money – is the main reason the medical industry cannot seem to change. Prescribing more drugs and recommending more surgeries means more profits. Getting more drugs approved by the FDA, regardless of their safety, means more money for the pharmaceutical industry. As the healthcare system stands today, physicians and drug companies can’t seem to pass up earning loads of money, even if a few hundred thousand people lose their lives in the process. Even in drastic cases of deadly drugs, everyone involved has a scapegoat: Drug companies can blame the FDA for approving their product and the doctors for over-prescribing it, and doctors can blame the patients for wanting it and not properly weighing the risks.

What ultimately arises is a question of ethics. In layman’s terms, ethics are the rules or moral guidelines that govern the conduct of people or professions. Some ethics are ingrained from childhood, but some are specifically set forth. For example, nearly all medical schools have their new doctors take a modern form of the Hippocratic Oath. While few versions are identical, none include setting aside proper medical care in favor of money-making practices.

On the research side of the issue, “Death by Medicine” cites an ABC report that says clinical trials funded by pharmaceutical companies show a 90 percent chance that a drug will be perceived as effective, whereas clinical trials not funded by drug companies show only a 50 percent chance that a drug will be perceived as effective. “It appears that money can’t buy you love, but it can buy you any ‘scientific’ result you want,” writes Null and his team of researchers.

The government spends upwards of $30 billion a year on homeland security. Such spending seems important. Since 2001, 2,996 people in the United States have died from terrorism – all as a result of the 9/11 attacks. In that same period of time, 490,000 people have died from prescription drugs, not counting the Vioxx scandal. That means that prescription drugs in this country are at least 16,400 percent deadlier than terrorism. Again, those are the conservative numbers. A more realistic number, which would include deaths from over-the-counter drugs, makes drug consumption 32,000 percent deadlier than terrorism. But the scope of “Death by Medicine” is even wider. Conventional medicine, including unnecessary surgeries, bedsores and medical errors, is 104,700 percent deadlier than terrorism. Yet, our government’s attention and money is not put into reforming health care.

Couldn’t a little chunk of the homeland security money be better spent on overhauling the corrupt U.S. healthcare system, the leading cause of death in America? Couldn’t we forfeit the color-coded threat system in favor of stricter guidelines on medical research and prescription drugs? No one is attempting to say that terrorism in the world is not a problem, especially for a high-profile country like the United States. No one is saying that the people who died on 9/11 didn’t matter or weren’t horribly wronged by the terrorists that day. But there are more dangerous things in the United States being falsely represented as safe and healthy, when, in reality, they are deadly. The corruption in the pharmaceutical industry and in America’s healthcare system poses a far greater threat to the health, safety and welfare of Americans today than terrorism.

If the Bush Administration really wants to save lives — a lot of lives — it needs look no further than the chemical war has been declared on Americans by Big Pharma.

(NaturalNews) The regretful passing of an American entertainment icon -- Whitney Houston -- marks yet another sad milestone in the devastating body count of the prescription drug industry. TMZ is now reporting that Whitney Houston was found not with illegal drugs, but prescription drugs that may have killed her or caused her to drown in the bathtub. (http://www.tmz.com/2012/02/11/whitney-h ... ugs-drow...)

"The prescription drugs were officially taken into custody by the Beverly Hills Police Department," the website reported. An autopsy has yet to be performed, and it will reportedly provide more conclusive information about the actual cause of death.

Xanax is widely promoted throughout that DSM-IV, the "bible" of modern psychiatry which promotes the use of prescription amphetamines to children (among other bizarre chemical recommendations).

Whitney Houston showed clear signs of pharmaceutical adverse effects"[Houston,] who struggled with drug and alcohol abuse in her later life, made a bizarre appearance just two evenings before," reports US Magazine (http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-new ... -shaky-e...)

At a pre-Grammys party at Tru Hollywood Thursday evening, the beloved Grammy-winning singer seemed "wasted" and "moody" as she exited the club past midnight, according to a witness. "She reacted angrily to the security guards trying to get her into her car...and started cussing them out."

Although the superstar smiled when fans approached her for autographs, "she would get moody again in a split second," the observer says. "It was sad because her fans noticed that she was really shaky as she left the venue. She definitely was not in control of herself."

This is the behavior of a person who is using either prescription psychiatric drugs or recreational drugs (or perhaps both in combination). That this was observed with Houston on multiple occasions is very strong evidence that these drugs were altering her brain function and thereby radically altering her personality and behavior.

Remember: for every celebrity death caused by prescription drugs, there are hundreds of thousands of deaths of everyday people from prescription drugs, too. In fact, according to published scientific statistics:

The number of people killed by prescription drugs absolutely dwarfs the number killed by alleged acts of terrorism (9/11 in particular). And while America has gone crazy with "security checkpoints," TSA agents reaching down your pants, nullification of the Bill of Rights (http://www.naturalnews.com/034537_NDAA_ ... Obama.html) and other outrageous government encroachments on your freedom to fight the so-called "war on terror," the government does absolutely nothing to address the holocaust of prescription drug deaths happening every single day.

Whitney Houston is just one of countless Americans who are victims of Big Pharma, an industry that cares far more about corporate profits than it does about the lives of real people. And today, we have lost yet another iconic American artist whose life was cut short by addiction, prescription drugs and the entire "medication culture" that exists in America today.

Whitney Houston will be missed. May her death serve as an urgent call for ending the scourge of mind-altering psychotropic drugs and ending the failed "War on Drugs" that tries to criminalize drug addicts rather than helping them heal.

It's time to start helping drug addicts rather than throwing them behind barsNaturalNews calls for the decriminalization of recreational drugs followed by the treatment of drug addicts and abusers through health-oriented support services (including nutrition) rather than the criminal justice system.

It is time to empty the prisons of non-violent drug offenders and compassionately offer them addiction treatment programs. As written today, our laws would condemn Whitney Houston as a felony criminal rather than someone who was only guilty of being caught up in a cycle of substance abuse and prescription drug dependence.

It is time to stop treating addiction as a criminal offense and start helping people rather than throwing them behind bars. If society's response to drug addiction and abuse were based more in health and compassion rather than revenge and punishment, Whitney Houston might very well still be alive today, along with countless other victims of the pharmaceutical and recreational drugs industries.

Even famous singer Tony Bennett echoes this call. In an urgent and outspoken plea made last night, Tony Bennett called for the decriminalization of drugs so that drug addicts can seek help legally and compassionately, without being thrown behind bars and marginalized by society. "First it was Michael Jackson, then Amy Winehouse, now, the magnificent Whitney Houston," said Bannett (Hollywood Reporter). "I'd like every person in this room to campaign to legalize drugs." (http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2012/02/12/19 ... ertainme...)

This doesn't mean that NaturalNews or Tony Bennett supports the recreational use of such drugs. I am 100% against recreational drug use, and I don't use such drugs myself. But I also understand that drug use is a behavioral and chemical addiction, not a criminal act. The solution is found in decriminalizing drugs, regulating their distribution like alcohol, and offering treatment, addiction recovery and nutritional consultation programs for those suffering from drug addiction.

Drug users are not criminals! They are people who need medical help, counseling, nutrition and compassion. Calling them "criminals" only becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that keeps the police state in power while doing nothing to end drug addiction.

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Prescription drugs need to be used responsibly. If you take Xanax you have to be sure not to take more then prescribed which unfortunately many do take more but not enough to kill you. Also if you are taking Xanax you cannot drink alcohol.

She could have mixed the Xanax and alcohol which could have been the deadly mix that took her life. However we have to wait 4-6 weeks to really know.

"Mormonism is the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ; of which I myself am not ashamed." Joseph Smith

Makes sense -- Dr Mercola (on that thread) also ranks pharma-deaths as the #1 cause of death in the US. Not reported that way, of course. BigPharma is BIG business.

Said Jesus,"unto you, the Twelve, and those, the First Presidency, who are appointed with you to be your counselors and your leaders, is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time..." DC 112

(NaturalNews) The recent death of pop icon Whitney Houston has once again sparked worldwide awareness of the fragility of human life, and how easily it can slip away in an instant. But what Houston's death has also brought to the forefront is the reality that, under the auspices of treating disease, FDA-approved pharmaceutical drugs are a primary cause of death in the U.S., as well as within the entertainment industry.

Over the years, NaturalNews has covered the deaths of numerous celebrities, singers, actors, and cultural icons that met their fates because of prescription drug overdoses. Some of these individuals died as a result of misusing pharmaceutical drugs, while others were literally out of their minds as a result of taking them, which made them particularly prone to the careless and even suicidal behaviors that ultimately led to their deaths.

Below we have put together a short timeline of celebrity deaths caused by pharmaceutical drugs. While we recognize that some of these individuals deliberately misused both prescription and illicit drugs, resulting in their deaths, some of them were arguably heavily influenced by these highly-addictive drugs in the first place, which caused them to further abuse dangerous, but legal, prescription drugs, and often under the guidance of their doctors.

• 1962: American actress, singer, and model Marilyn Monroe reportedly died of a barbiturate overdose, a class of drugs that artificially induces relaxation and sleep. Though the precise details of her death are still disputed, her death was officially declared to be "acute barbiturate poisoning."

• 1968: Famous American actor Nick Adams, a good friend of James Dean and Elvis Presley, reportedly died of an overdose of barbiturates as well. His mysterious death was officially certified as "accidental-suicidal and undetermined," but high levels of sedatives were found in his blood.

• 1977: Iconic singer Elvis Presley had a long history of prescription drug abuse, having developed an addiction to stimulants during his days in the military. His personal physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos, reportedly supplied pills to Presley during his singing career "without concern for his health," which eventually led to his overdose-induced death.

• 1994: Kurt Cobain, former lead singer and guitarist of the band Nirvana, reportedly died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head that many reports link to a lethal dose of heroin. Like many of the others, Cobain had a history of illicit drug abuse, but upon his death, reports indicated that traces of diazepam, an anti-anxiety medication marketed under the name Valium, was also found in his blood.

• 1997: Famous comedian and actor Chris Farley was found dead in his apartment of an apparent drug overdose. But according to some reports, no illegal narcotics were found on the premesis, while plenty of prescription drugs were found. A later autopsy revealed morphine and cocaine intoxication as the cause of his "accidental" death.

• 2007: Anna Nicole Smith, an American model, actress, and television personality died of an overdose of prescription drugs. There is still much controversy over her doctors' involvement in her death, as they reportedly wrote her fake prescriptions for sleeping pills, opioid painkillers, and anti-anxiety drugs, all of which contributed to her death.

• 2008: Actor Heath Ledger was killed by taking a cocktail of pharmaceuticals prescribed him by his doctors. These included OxyContin, Valium, Xanax, Restoril, Unisom, and Vicodin.

• 2009: American actress and artist Farrah Fawcett died as a result of prescribed chemotherapy treatments for her cancer. This treatment, which was prescribed for her anal cancer, actually caused more cancer, which ultimately destroyed her immune system and killed her.

• 2009: Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop," died after being given an injection of Demerol, a highly-potent opioid drug, by his doctor. Though prescription drugs eventually killed him, Jackson may have been deliberately drug induced by his "handlers" for quite some time throughout his career as a way to maximize corporate profits.

• 2011: Singer Amy Winehouse reportedly died of alcohol poisoning, but some reports say that she may have also been taking prescription drugs. Though no "illegal substances" were found in her body at the time of death, official reports appear to omit the actual cause of her death, which strongly points to prescription drugs as a culprit in addition to alcohol.

• 2012: Though the mainstream media is silent on the subject, some reports are now indicating that Whitney Houston's death was actually caused by prescription drugs and alcohol, not drowning. According to reports, a deadly combination of Lorazepam, Valium, Xanax, and sleeping medications killed Houston before she sunk underneath the water in her bathtub.

This is not an exhaustive list of celebrity deaths, of course, and some of these cases are still disputed as to the actual causes of death. But one thing is for sure: FDA-approved prescription drugs, many of which are highly-addictive, are a primary cause of mortality in America today, and yet they continue to flood the market unabated.

Big pharma did not kill Whitney. Whitney killed Whitney. Didn't you hear her crack is for poor people rant? She got what she wanted. She knew the possible consequences.

"We can seek for the bad in others. Or we can... extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find."-Pres. Uchtdorf

ChelC wrote:Big pharma did not kill Whitney. Whitney killed Whitney. Didn't you hear her crack is for poor people rant? She got what she wanted. She knew the possible consequences.

LOL---I can see that you do not know much about big pharma.

Yes, Whitney did make a choice to marry Bobby who was a drug addict. I believe....now this may be wrong...its been a few years since I followed up on Whitney and I will have to verify, but she started taking meds to "deal" with his addiction and abuse. Since meds of this type are one of the biggest causes of cravings for alcohol and other drugs, she started to drink and then got involved with illegal. To fix that problem she was then put in drug rehabs that put you on meds to deal with addiction...the very same that work on the same receptor sites...only in a controlled fashion.

I suggest you do an indepth research into how big pharma took over the minds of the masses...you might want to start with a book called Storming Heaven.

It all came down to Whitney's choices, period. Yes, maybe she became an addict along the way, maybe not, but either way it was her choice to travel the road she did.

"behold, he aspireth to establish his counsel instead of the counsel which I have ordained, even that of the Presidency of my Church" -The Lord“Look to the Presidency and receive instruction,” -The Prophet Joseph Smith

ChelC wrote:Big pharma did not kill Whitney. Whitney killed Whitney. Didn't you hear her crack is for poor people rant? She got what she wanted. She knew the possible consequences.

LOL---I can see that you do not know much about big pharma.

Yes, Whitney did make a choice to marry Bobby who was a drug addict. I believe....now this may be wrong...its been a few years since I followed up on Whitney and I will have to verify, but she started taking meds to "deal" with his addiction and abuse. Since meds of this type are one of the biggest causes of cravings for alcohol and other drugs, she started to drink and then got involved with illegal. To fix that problem she was then put in drug rehabs that put you on meds to deal with addiction...the very same that work on the same receptor sites...only in a controlled fashion.

I suggest you do an indepth research into how big pharma took over the minds of the masses...you might want to start with a book called Storming Heaven.

"We can seek for the bad in others. Or we can... extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find."-Pres. Uchtdorf

ChelC wrote:Big pharma did not kill Whitney. Whitney killed Whitney. Didn't you hear her crack is for poor people rant? She got what she wanted. She knew the possible consequences.

LOL---I can see that you do not know much about big pharma.

Yes, Whitney did make a choice to marry Bobby who was a drug addict. I believe....now this may be wrong...its been a few years since I followed up on Whitney and I will have to verify, but she started taking meds to "deal" with his addiction and abuse. Since meds of this type are one of the biggest causes of cravings for alcohol and other drugs, she started to drink and then got involved with illegal. To fix that problem she was then put in drug rehabs that put you on meds to deal with addiction...the very same that work on the same receptor sites...only in a controlled fashion.

I suggest you do an indepth research into how big pharma took over the minds of the masses...you might want to start with a book called Storming Heaven.

Oprah: Did you think something was gonna happen in those drug-crazed, drug-filled days where you’re sitting for hours and days?

Whitney: There were times when he (Bobby Brown) would smash things, break things in the home. Glass. We had a big, big giant portrait of me and him and my child. He cut my head off the picture. Stuff like that. And I thought, “This is really strange.” So I figured, cutting my head off a picture, that was a little much for me. That was one sign.

And then there were other things like he started to paint in my bedroom eyes. Just eyes. Evil eyes that were looking at every point of the room.

Oprah: He started to paint on the walls?

Whitney: Yeah. The rugs. The walls. The closet doors. If I opened the door, there would be one picture. Then I’d close them and there would be another picture and eyes and faces. It was really strange. …

Oprah: What are you doing with all of that?

Whitney: I’m looking at it going, “Lord, what’s really going on here?” I was getting scared because I felt something was going to blow. Something was going to give.

Just some weird stuff going on in that house.

"Establish yourself firmly in the awareness of "I AM'. This is the beginning, and also the end of all endeavor." N. Maharaj

"Of all the thoughts that rise in the mind, the thought "I" is the first though."R. Maharshi

shadow wrote:It all came down to Whitney's choices, period. Yes, maybe she became an addict along the way, maybe not, but either way it was her choice to travel the road she did.

That's what her mama told her....she was raised different!

Within 30 minutes of her death Sony raised the price of her music 60%....

Yes! Very interesting. I was wondering about that. Satan murders for gain. Either way, There are people who benefit immensely from many of these death. Who gains and benefits is a good question? Michael Jackson, Elvis, Whitney..... In fact I remember one or two sisters of Michael Jackson believe it was Sony who killed Michael Jackson. It sounds bizarre at first but when you look at how much Sony has benefited off Michael Jackson death it has to make one wonder.

LaToya Jackson, the sister of the late pop singer, Michael Jackson, who died last month under suspicious circumstances, did an interview with Britain’s News of the World paper, on July 11, 2009, proclaiming Michael Jackson was murdered for his 50% interest in the Sony Music catalog. His half is said to be valued at least $1 billion dollars. Sony, with its plummeting sales, are desperate for cash.

The heartbreak of Whitney Houston’s death does not seem to be primarily a story of drug or alcohol abuse, as it is currently unfolding.

The so-called “teachable moment” about combining booze and drugs, it seems to me, misses the point. The more important question is: Why do people medicate themselves to such an extent? And even more compelling, what role does the public (and its drug dealer, the media) play in these unravelings?

We get a glimpse of the answers in one of the many reels that has been replayed the past several days. It shows Houston and her daughter arriving at an event. Perfunctorily, they stop for the usual red-carpet paparazzi fest. Houston looks uncomfortable but plays her part, smiling into the abyss of flashing lights.

”Hey, Whitney, over here!” “Over here!” “Hey, Whitney!”

It is painful to watch. You can see her struggling to cooperate, but the love they wanted wasn’t there. You can only give what you have. Beneath the halfhearted smile, Houston looked empty, exhausted and drained by the insistence of her audience. Maybe self-medication played a role, but the scene was a metaphor for what surely has been at least part of her internal struggle: the curse of fame.

I’ve watched this particular video clip over and over, thinking, no wonder she would numb herself. It isn’t human, this experience. “Do not adore me,” she must have said to herself. “I’m just a girl from Newark.”

Of course, these weren’t her true fans. These were the parasites that coagulate on the souls of the talented. Her true audience might have said, “Leave her alone. Can’t you see she’s only human?”

The incredible voice that came to Earth with Whitney Houston ceased to be her own once Clive Davis put her on an album cover. Which is not to pity the wildly successful. Who doesn’t want to be discovered, to live the big life, to have a shot at something extraordinary? But the cost is dear, especially for the phenomenally gifted.

This is why the famous congregate. In the company of others similarly blessed and cursed, it’s the only place one can be normal. A good friend told me that Jackie Kennedy would watch people through binoculars because it was the only time she could see them behaving naturally. Otherwise, on the street, they were always reacting to her — staring, pointing, gasping. She wanted to see people as they really are. (We could have told her she wasn’t missing much.)

Most of us can’t imagine what that level of fame is like. And really, who wants it? Apparently, nearly everyone. The popularity of reality shows, and the extent to which some are willing to go in exchange for even fleeting recognition, is something bordering on pathological.

Houston’s fame was of a higher order, based not only on real talent but also on something she gave to her fans. When she sang the word “you,” and pointed to the audience, it was easy to feel she was talking to — you. When she wished us joy and happiness, it was easy to believe. And when above all this she wished us love, well, we fell for it. The love was mutual. That she was also beautiful seems less important. There are lots of beauties out there, but there’s not a single one who can do what she could with a song.

Houston honored her pact with her fans, but fame in our time is different than it was when she first hit the scene. Now there are no limits to expressions of admiration or the invasions that fans, critics and voyeurs permit themselves. Every hand holds a phone, every phone a camera. If you have a power cord, you have a forum. If you are Somebody, you belong to Everybody.

The final verdict on Houston’s death is yet to come. Toxicology reports could take several weeks. But we have a pretty good idea of what killed Whitney Houston. The immediate cause of death might have been drugs she took that day or the cumulative effects over time. But the real cause was a deeper one that first struck her soul.

There is sufficient history of the talented who met similar ends to comfortably conclude that fame is a risk factor for substance abuse. Fans may pay the bills, but they also siphon the spirit of the adored. It isn’t just lonely at the top. It can be deadly.

Come on.. I cant believe all this garbage. I am starting to believe all these stories are distraction while trampling over the woman's dead body. I am still waiting for one person to ask the question of who benefits? This is never talked about. Very similar to 9/11. Who benefited from 9/11? Its sure isn't the American people or the people of Iraq/ Afghanistan. Sure isn't some men half way around the world. Just follow the money. Just the two deaths of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston alone, there are people who are now making Billions of Dollars. Were not talking about millions but Billions. There is motive enough to investigate before we trample over her name, and maybe spreading false rumors. Just my opinion. I mean come on... "binge on drugs and alcohol to numb pain of being a secret lesbian" Just a distraction if you ask me!

"Establish yourself firmly in the awareness of "I AM'. This is the beginning, and also the end of all endeavor." N. Maharaj

"Of all the thoughts that rise in the mind, the thought "I" is the first though."R. Maharshi

"binge on drugs and alcohol to numb pain of being a secret lesbian" Just a distraction if you ask me!

I think the whole Whitney thing is a distraction from what's going on in the world.

In the late 80's and early 90's my cousin worked at a casino that Whitney would visit a few times a year with her girlfriends. She told us that yes Whitney had girlfriends and was partying hard and this was way before Bobby...I think he's a excuse to cover her already poor choices. I agree with ChelC...Whitney killed Whitney.

P.S. Jason...though I always love Vigilant Citizens take on things...by the way did you see Nicki Minaj's Grammy performance?.....seriously Ode's to Satan abound in the music industry.

did drugsprimadonnadid more drugssuperiority complextragedy if it happens to anyonewon't be missed by me all the sameresponsible for her own actionsmade decisionlost ability to make decisionslesson for kidsword or wisdomdont do drugspainkillers and prescription medicine is legalised drug use for personalities.if they werent able to buy a doctor theyd be smoking a crack pipe with nick nolte in a back alley somewhere

Often when I think about how much I love my wife, Ginger, I wish I could sing to her. But I cannot sing. Instead, I imagine Whitney Houston singing to Ginger in her incredible soaring voice. Whitney became the voice expressing how much I love my wife. That is how much Whitney came to mean to so many of us who knew her only through her music. She became the music about love we carry in our hearts.

Whitney's passing has raised the specter that she was taking the benzodiazepine Xanax (alprazolam) at the time she died.

If it turns out that Whitney was under the influence of Xanax (alprazolam), then there's a good chance she would be alive today if that drug had never been put on the market.

Although Xanax is the most commonly prescribed benzodiazepine, and in my experience the most dangerous, the same harmful effects can be caused by all benzodiazepines, including Valium, Ativan, Klonopin, Serax, Halcion, Dalmane, and Halcion. When I address Xanax, I'm also talking about all of these drugs.

Reports that Xanax and other benzos are not usually lethal when taken alone are vastly misleading. Xanax is rarely taken alone. Why? Because as much or more than any other prescribed drug, Xanax causes medication spellbinding. It corrupts judgment, memory and self-control, so that individuals have no idea how badly they are being impaired. Eventually it erodes all mental faculties, often without the person fully grasping this loss of function. The impairment of judgment and self-control causes people to overdose on drugs or alcohol without intending to, leading to coma, cardiovascular collapse and death. The Xanax-induced memory impairment causes them to forget how many pills or how much alcohol they have already taken, again increasing the lethal risk.

Xanax has been called "alcohol in a pill" because its effects are so similar to alcohol. However, as will be documented, Xanax can be far more dangerous than alcohol. It should not be prescribed to patients with alcohol problems, because it becomes a powerful impetus for alcohol abuse.

At critical moments in their lives when individuals are suffering from serious emotional problems, their ability to deal with them is further compromised as a result of Xanax-induced medication spellbinding and cognitive deficits. In acute distress, they often have no idea what is happening to them. They have no idea how impaired they have become, they forget what they've already taken, or increase the dose, or increase or add other medications or alcohol.

This cannot be over-emphasized: Benzodiazepines, including the worst offender Xanax, can change people so that they become no longer rational, responsible or aware of the consequences of their behavior. Whether or not Xanax intoxication specifically causes death in these cases, Xanax-induced mental dysfunction contributes to the death.

Because the benzodiazepines so seriously impair judgment and other cognitive functions, it is often impossible to determine if a death was intentional or accidental, and as a result, we may never know in Whitney's case. News coverage saying that a loud sound like a falling body was heard from the room above her may indicate that she unexpectedly and unintentionally collapsed.

Even in the short run, Xanax often makes people worse than they were before starting the drug. As I first documented in Toxic Psychiatry (1991, pp. 252-254), the original studies for panic disorder showed that at 8-10 weeks of exposure the patients were more phobic, more anxious, and had a 350 percent increase in the panic attacks for which they were being treated. Upjohn, the manufacturer, promoted the first four weeks of the study without indicating that patients were worse than ever at eight weeks. When these studies for panic disorder were published in the AMA Archives of General Psychiatry, the editor-in-chief, himself on the Upjohn payroll, permitted the misleading research to be published without comment.

Eventually, after much delay, the FDA required some of the negative data to be included in the FDA-approved label for Xanax. Perhaps because the label had become rather ominous, Upjohn has stopped putting Xanax in the most commonly used reference for prescribers, The Physicians' Desk Reference. As a result, many or most prescribers will be using the drug on the basis of their recollection of much weaker labels from the past. To make it readily available, I've put the 2011 Xanax label up at http://www.ToxicPsychiatry.com. This version of the label is for the extended release or long-acting version, called Xanax XR, because this label contains the latest FDA-mandated upgrades. All page number citations in this blog are to this Xanax XR label.

Reports that Xanax only causes abuse and dependence (addiction) in addiction-prone patients are very false and extremely misleading. The 2011 label for Xanax XR states:

Some patients may find it very difficult to discontinue treatment with XANAX XR due to severe emotional and physical dependence. Discontinuation symptoms, including possible seizures, may occur following discontinuation from any dose... P. 10

While the severity and incidence of withdrawal phenomena appear to be related to dose and duration of treatment, withdrawal symptoms, including seizures, have been reported after only brief therapy with alprazolam at doses within the recommended range for the treatment of anxiety (eg, 0.75 to 4 mg/day). Pp. 18-19

Notice that "after only brief therapy" in the "recommended" dose range Xanax can cause withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms are often the initiating factor in future abuse and addiction, including the abuse of alcohol.After the short several-week trials used for FDA approval, many patients were simply unable to stop taking the drug. That is, they were already addicted! In various studies, the number unable to withdraw ranged from a low of 7 percent to a high of 29 percent (p. 6).

Why do so many patients have to stay on the drug after such short-term exposure? Withdrawal symptoms for Xanax and other benzos are far worse than a mere "craving" that an individual might hope to control. The person doesn't "crave" the drug; the person needs the drug to end the agony of withdrawal.

Withdrawal reactions typically include overwhelming anxiety and panic, as well as insomnia, far worse than the individual has ever before experienced. Irritability can grow into uncontrollable anger and even violence. Muscle spasms, painful feelings in the extremities, painfully-heightened awareness of diminished mental faculties, confusion, depression, suicidality, paranoia, hallucinations, and myriad other unforeseen symptoms can demoralize and terrify the individual.

Withdrawal from Xanax can become far worse than withdrawal from morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, and heroin, and require weeks in rehab or months in outpatient practice (See my medical text, Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, Second Edition, Chapter 12). Benzodiazepine withdrawal should never be taken lightly and should be conducted with experienced clinical supervision, sometimes including hospitalization.

Xanax is so short-acting and potent that it is especially liable to cause interdose withdrawal in between doses (p. 7). A person taking Xanax at bedtime can wake up in withdrawal in the early morning and mistakenly attribute it to "anxiety." After the first pill in the morning, this same person can go into withdrawal a few hours later, again mistakenly believing that it's "anxiety."

As I describe in my book Medication Madness, Xanax is the benzo most likely to cause abnormal behavior, including violence and suicide. It is the drug I have most commonly found in association with SSRI antidepressants like Paxil and Zoloft in a number of legal cases involving SSRI-induced violence, suicide, and manic-like crime. These are really SSRI/Xanax induced tragedies. Xanax is the only benzo whose FDA-approved label warns about the risk of causing mania (p. 9).

Again according to the official label, "As with all benzodiazepines, paradoxical reactions such as stimulation, increased muscle spasticity, sleep disturbances, hallucinations, and other adverse behavioral effects such as agitation, rage, irritability, and aggressive or hostile behavior have been reported rarely" (p. 17).

There's one last issue that is painful to bring up. As I describe in Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, Second Edition (2008), I have treated and evaluated many patients whose mental faculties have never fully returned after years or decades of exposure to Xanax. They suffer from what I have described as drug-induced Chronic Brain Impairment (CBI).

If you are currently taking this drug, seek help for a careful, slow withdrawal. It's not only dangerous to start Xanax, it's dangerous to stop it. If you have already stopped the drug and fear that you have lasting effects, remember that the spirit can triumph over almost any impediment, even harm to the brain. Also, recovery from drug-induced brain injury can take place gradually over many years, so keep up your hope. Stay drug free, live healthy, and make the most of your life -- while avoiding all psychoactive substances as much as possible.

Believe nothing about the safety of Xanax! If it turns out that the drug played a role in taking away our Whitney, it is one more demonstration of why this drug should never have been put on the market.-----------------------------------

Join Dr. Breggin and other prestigious speakers, April 13-15, 2012 in Syracuse, New York. The annual conference of Dr. Breggin's 501c3 nonprofit international organization, The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, will present information and inspiration about the key issues in psychiatric reform today. Conference information is available at http://www.EmpathicTherapy.org. Peter R. Breggin, M.D. is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and former full-time consultant with NIMH who is in private practice in Ithaca, New York. Dr. Breggin is the author of more than twenty books including the bestseller Talking Back to Prozac and the medical book Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, Second Edition. His most recent book is Medication Madness, the Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Crime. He is also the author of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific articles, many in the field of psychopharmacology.

(NaturalNews) There's something afoot in the changing story about what actually killed Whitney Houston. According to the official coroner's report that was recently released, Whitney Houston died from drowning and cocaine was a "contributing factor." All the other prescription drugs found in her system were dismissed as being totally unrelated to her death.

Really? Isn't it interesting that police found no cocaine in her hotel room, yet they found at least four different prescription drugs, including "...a plethora of sedatives including Lorazepam, Valium, Xanax, and a sleeping medication that was found in her hotel room," according Radar Online (http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2 ... ouston-h...).

Cocaine is the scapegoat for a far more complex chemical problemThe mainstream media, however, routinely downplays any negative reports about prescription drugs, especially since the media gets a huge share of its revenues from drug company advertising. So it's no surprise that the pharmaceuticals are now getting downplayed in the reporting of all this. It's much easier to blame the death on an illicit street drug -- cocaine -- and then use that to further fund the wildly failed "War on Drugs" which fills our nations prisons with completely innocent pot smokers.

What are your thoughts on all this? There's no question that Whitney Houston used cocaine in her life, but does cocaine cause you to pass out and slip quietly under the water? That sounds a lot more to me like a toxic interaction between Lorazepam and alcohol. Think about it: Cocaine makes people amped up and energetic. But Lorazepam is a downer that can put you right to sleep. PubMed says: "Lorazepam is used to relieve anxiety. Lorazepam is in a class of medications called benzodiazepines. It works by slowing activity in the brain to allow for relaxation." (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000560/)

That same page offers this stern warning: "This medication may make you drowsy. Do not drive a car or operate machinery until you know how this medication affects you."

The side effects of the drug include irregular heartbeat and drowsiness. Wikipedia's coverage of the drug includes this warning about the drug's side effects:

"Sedation is the side effect that most patients complain of. In a group of around 3500 patients treated for anxiety, the most common side effects complained of from lorazepam were sedation (15.9%), dizziness (6.9%), weakness (4.2%), and unsteadiness (3.4%). Side effects such as sedation and unsteadiness increased with age. Cognitive impairment, behavioral disinhibition and respiratory depression as well as hypotension may also occur." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorazepam#Adverse_effects)

I think it was the prescription drugs. My guess is that the combination of warm water and drugs caused her to fall asleep in the tub. In some tubs, one doesn't have room to go under the water very well, but I would suppose - being wealthy - the room she was in had a nice big tub.

- - Toni

Peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high;D&C 121:7-8

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